Various types of connectors have hitherto been used to provide electrical connection between electric circuits or electrical equipment. In general, these connectors are comprised of an insulating socket housing that holds therein a terminal having a wire-connecting portion and a contact. In this instance, the contact includes a male contact and a female contact, which are engaged with each other to make an electrical connection.
Known terminals used in connectors as set out above are crimp terminals having a structure such that the wire-connecting portion crimps the core (bared portion) of a stripped wire, and insulation displacement terminals having a structure such that the wire-connecting portion makes an electrical connection by forcing the wire into a U-contact to out through its cover (or insulation) at that portion to make contact with the wire.
In recent years, in order to achieve electrical wiring with ease, widely employed are connectors such that a plurality of wires such as a ribbon cable and a flat cable are connected to one connector so that a plurality of electric circuits may be connected in a bundle. These connectors comprise a socket housing provided with a plurality of connecting sections, and terminals respectively fitted to these connecting sections.
These connectors are manufactured in a one-by-one separated state, and they are attached to wires in the manner that they are continuously fed one by one using a parts feeder. In such an instance, the parts feeder takes the structure that it arranges the direction of a number of connectors in line and successively delivers them to a wire processing apparatus such as an insulation displacement machine along a guide rail or the like.
However, such a parts feeder necessarily has a complicated and large-sized structure, and hence had the problem that it brings about a high cost for the wire processing apparatus as a whole. Moreover, misregistration or lifting tends to occur when connectors are fed, and also reject parts have been produced at a high rate because of wire misattachment. Furthermore, modification in size of connectors makes it necessary to change parts such as guides, resulting in a poor operability.